Christian Bersin, the head of the Department for Climate and Environmental Protection of the City of Saarbrücken, would seem convinced that “[h]aving engaged individuals who feel connected to the topic and really push for it is probably worth far more than 100,000 Council Resolutions, internal instruction documents, or whatever” (Bersin/Saarbrücken).
The individual dimension represents the third content area in which we assess success factors of SRPP practices and their triggers. As the initial quote already suggests, both the interviews and most of the secondary literature analysed emphasise the central role of engaged individuals for the initial introduction and long-term consolidation of SRPP within German municipalities.
As it was already the case with the institutional dimension, the boundary between elements grouped in the introductory phase and those in the consolidation phase is permeable.
Overlaps and steps forward and backward do appear. Despite those probable deviations from the time-bound appearance of specific factors, we have decided to stick to this structure for two reasons: First, we find that most factors have a higher relevance for one of those time sections. Second, the appearance of specific factors in one of those sections has shown itself to be of particular importance for stimulating SRPP practices in the respective period.
6.1 The individual dimension: the introductory phase
During the early phase of introducing SRPP, two overarching success factors have shown themselves to be of specific importance in initiating particularly fair procurement projects.
First, the existence of change agents with high levels of commitment, and second, the support from politicians and/or fractions within the City Council. Mayors play a hybrid role in the municipality, as they are both political figures and heads of a city’s administration.
Support from mayors in the form of a clear political signal encouraging and calling for SRPP is of key importance in initiating SRPP practices. Later in the process, his or her role as head of the city administration will gain importance. For this reason, the latter function will be looked at during the subsection on consolidation. The following SRPP sub-map illustrates the two key success factors during this phase as well as their underlying triggers (the most important ones are highlighted in red).
6.1.1 Commitment of change agents
Sylvia Baringer, from the City of Munich, said: “It is crucial to find people that burn for the topic, find it important and want to implement it. Without them, administration won’t move forward even if a Council Resolution exists” (Baringer/Munich).
In this study, a change agent “is defined as an internal or external individual or team responsible for initiating, sponsoring, directing, managing or implementing a specific change initiative, project or complete change programme” (Caldwell, 2003, p. 139f.). With regard to change processes towards SRPP, the existence of change agents is of particular significance in the initial phases (Grandia, 2015, p. 87; Müller, 2013, p. 33). Typically, change agents engage informally in this phase. Later in the process, change agents take on more the role of advisors and facilitators (Grandia, 2015, p. 87). All stakeholders mentioned in this section may act as change agents. However, it is beyond the scope of this paper to determine specific “thresholds” as to when engagement in the topic reaches a level that may qualify calling such a representative a “change agent”.
Change agents can execute their commitment either from an external position – in Germany typically as a member of an NGO – or from within the municipal administration (Bersin/Saarbrücken). However, interview data suggest that internal change agents, who inspire and motivate colleagues to take action regarding SRPP, are in most cases more important than external actors (Malter/Nuremberg Metropolitan Region; Morhard/Rosstal;
Pohl/Leipzig). Practitioners further highlighted that SPP practices in the specialised departments highly depended on the existence of committed change agents in those units
Figure 9: SRPP sub-map on initial individual support
Source: Authors
(Baringer/Munich; Bauer/Wesel). This is in line with recent research on the role of change agents for SRPP action in German municipalities. Becher concludes that proactive individuals from all municipal hierarchy levels appear to be change agents (Becher, 2017, p. 29). Research from the Netherlands comes to a similar conclusion by highlighting the important role of individual actors from within the municipality “in determining the degree of sustainable procurement” (Grandia, 2015, p. 72). With regard to functions, these “actors were actively trying to increase commitment, expertise, and top management support for a sustainable procurement initiative” (Grandia, 2015, p. 72). Change agents are important for addressing both decision-makers and the working level (Grandia, 2015, p. 148). Concerning the emergence of change agent activities, Grandia (2015, p. 87) further concludes that they
“vary across projects and the organisation”.
We identified three triggers that determine the existence of change agents in an administration. The first two – support and reward structures and the presence of a person responsible for SRPP (or SPP in general) – can be actively influenced by taking decisions to implement respective structures. The third – affective commitment – is mostly intrinsic motivated and depends more on the individual. However, it might be fruitful to further analyse in future research how affective commitment can be activated within administrations.
Support and reward structures for change agents
First insights recommend that supporting measures by the municipal administration enhance the level and impact of change agents’ action. In practice this means that municipalities
“should stimulate change agents to become more pro-active and embedded within projects as this allows change agents to directly influence the decision-making process” (Grandia, 2015, p. 88). Thus, change agents should be supported in carrying out their formal or informal advisory role, for example, in Fairtrade Town steering committees or by encouraging them in organising cross-departmental working groups or workshops for capacity-building (Grandia, 2015, p. 87; Morhard/Rosstal). Beyond those supporting structures, Grandia (2015, p. 148) recommends implementing specific honour and reward mechanisms to value change agents’ voluntary and often passionate work. Referring to the situation in the Netherlands, she finds that change agents “regularly felt underappreciated and, sometimes, even felt that their activities as a change agent would not benefit their career” (Grandia, 2015, p. 148). In practice, such mechanisms do not exist up to now (at least not formally) – neither in the Dutch nor in the German case. However, feedback from practitioners in German municipalities shows that their assessment would probably be similar to the one of their Dutch counterparts. Thus, we suggest the hypotheses that honour and reward mechanisms would, firstly, increase the effort of existing change agents, and secondly, would motivate more people to become committed and potentially even act as change agents. Discussing the concrete design of those mechanisms is, however, beyond the scope of this paper.
SRPP-responsible person
A key trigger to support SRPP practices in a municipality and potentially also the emergence of new change agents is having a specific person responsible for establishing SRPP (Wehlau, 2014). According to Ulrich Narr, from the City of Tübingen, other actors such as the City Council or CSOs often do not have the capacities to exert continuous lobbying for
the topic. SRPP needs responsible person(s) who have up-to-date knowledge and carry out networking within the city administration (Narr/Tübingen).
Affective commitment
Following Grandia (2015), we define affective commitment here as the “inherent belief in the benefits of sustainable procurement” (2015, p. 126). Our interviews suggested that affective commitment represents a central determinant for the degree of effort towards SRPP practices in German municipalities, as it does for Dutch municipalities (Grandia, 2015, p. 71). The empirical data further shows that increasing the notion of sustainability as a central sub-target of everyday work encourages employee engagement. This is in line with respective insights from the private sector (Wilhelm, 2013, p. 182). The following quote from Sabine Gresch, responsible for SRPP implementation in the City of Mainz from the very beginning, underlines these findings:
It was very much my passion and I am convinced that we do the right thing and that we have to do it. When I retire at some point, I want to be able to tell my children, ‘I tried everything to change something’ […]. I know this sounds emotional but I know that my colleague in the Environmental Office would argue the same way. She is also not obliged to put too much effort into sustainable procurement as she does. Of course, we have an indirect mandate since we are responsible for sustainability but I would definitely not be obliged to do it to this extent. (Gresch/Mainz)
Affective commitment not only triggers the emergence of change agents, as specifically motivated and active persons to promote SRPP; as interview data showed, it also affects the general level of engagement of representatives from all stakeholder groups mentioned in this section (Bersin/Saarbrücken; Detjen/Bremen; Gresch/Mainz; Hammes/Heidelberg;
Malter/Nuremberg Metropolitan Region; Narr/Tübingen; Pflaum/Freiburg). In addition, the interview data confirm Grandia’s finding that a high level of affective commitment is of especial importance when pursuing voluntary SRPP initiatives, which tends to be the case during the introductory rather than during the consolidation phase (Grandia, 2015, p. 107).
6.1.2 Support from politicians and/or fractions in the City Council
Miriam Feldmann, responsible for the introduction of SRPP in the City of Cologne told us: “If the mayors say, ‘This is important and we need it’ that has an enormous effect” (Feldmann/Cologne).
When it comes to concrete stakeholder groups, politicians and/or fractions of the City Council are of particular relevance for the accomplishment of initial SRPP action. In practice, they set up regulatory initiatives, demand specific pilot projects and/or push to take part in structured processes in the field, for instance, to become a Fairtrade Town (Gresch/Mainz; Jansen/Berlin; Narr/Tübingen; Pflaum/Freiburg). Besides members of the City Council, the group of politicians also comprises mayors and/or the Lord Mayor. As stated above, our analysis suggests that a clear political positioning of the mayors/the Lord Mayor is of particular importance to initiate first SRPP action. Together with the two triggers mentioned below, the trigger “affective commitment” may also initiate momentum by the actors highlighted in this subsection:
• pressure from civil society to trigger initial support from municipal politics, for example, from interested citizens, youth groups, the church or more professionalised NGOs (Bauer/Wesel; Gresch/Mainz);
• public image of and for the city (Bersin&Rode/Saarbrücken; Feldmann/Cologne;
Jansen/Berlin).
6.2 The individual dimension: the consolidation phase
We have identified two crucial success factors for individual action to foster long-term SRPP consolidation. In order to leap from single pilot projects to mainstream institutional action, municipal stakeholders need to refocus from informal ad hoc measures to increasingly formal procedures. Thus, we tighten the focus on administrative stakeholders, namely the support from administrative decision-makers and procurement officers as the two central success factors. The following SRPP sub-map illustrates those factors as well as their underlying triggers. Practical actions to consolidate measures in this dimension are scarce and thus so is empirical evidence. Therefore, we abstained from prioritising triggers in this section and the following Figure.
Figure 10: SRPP sub-map on long-term individual support
Source: Authors
6.2.1 Support from administrative decision-makers
According to Birte Detjen, Immobilien Bremen:
If you don’t have the political will and staff that promotes the topic with strong commitment but without too much missionary aspiration, you have already lost the game. You need persistent politicians and administrative decision-makers, because those processes may take decades with long dry spells. Often things don’t work out as expected or you need to take smaller steps than intended. If the idealistic potential is not very high, I think you won’t have a chance. (Detjen/Bremen)
As becomes clear from this introductory statement, the boundary between elements grouped in the introductory phase and those in the consolidation phase is permeable. However, our data suggests an increasing importance of administrative decision-makers for continuous commitment and support to assure broad SRPP consolidation.
Without the support of committed decision-makers from the municipal administration, SPP practices would not be possible, especially when it comes to broad and ambitious action beyond pilot projects (Becher, 2017, p. 28; Brammer & Walker, 2011, p. 467; Pierk et al., 2007, p. 12). Thus, the heads of departments and sub-units, mayors and especially the Lord Mayor play an important role at this point (Detjen/Bremen; Hammes/Heidelberg).
According to Jeannette Jäger, who is a consultant for the City of Ludwigsburg on SPP, “the support of the Lord Mayor is already half the battle” (Jäger/Ludwigsburg). In practice, the Lord Mayor of Ludwigsburg not only advocated for hiring an external consultant on the topic but also supported the inclusion of sustainability criteria in single procurement projects (Jäger/Ludwigsburg). Christian Bersin from the City of Saarbrücken points to the crucial role of the Lord Mayor in ensuring support from the subordinated management levels for SPP practices (Bersin/Saarbrücken). Beyond those examples, almost all interviewees pointed to the high importance of the mayors’ and/or the Lord Mayor’s support as a precondition for broad SPP consolidation.
Besides mayors, the subordinated management levels play a vital role as well. This group is quite diverse both with regard to the hierarchy spectrum involved, top to lower management, as well as with regard to the connection of single actors to procurement questions. The common denominator of the group is staff responsibility. In the case of the top management level, their support may be as volatile and related to critical junctures as the one of political decision-makers. However, once their approval of and support for SRPP has been announced, the working level should stick to those guidelines. With regard to procurement, it is of particular importance that the heads of departments, including the head of the procurement department, support and require the inclusion of sustainability criteria in tenders (Baringer/Munich; Hammes/Heidelberg; Pflaum/Freiburg). The lower the hierarchy level and the closer the area of responsibility of managing staff to procurement, the more crucial his or her steady support for the topic in everyday work. Thus, Jeannette Jäger, consultant for the City of Ludwigsburg on SPP, highlighted the importance of having many supporters among mid- to low-level management staff “where the concrete work is actually done” (Jäger/Ludwigsburg).
As the example of the City of Dortmund showed, only the intertwined support of all those administrative levels facilitates broad SPP consolidation. Thus, Pütter and Soldan conclude
that “the political will of the City Council and the continuous support of the Lord Mayor and the heads of the city administration were a crucial precondition for the success” (Pütter
& Soldan, 2013, p. 162). Kühnrich and Fincke (2014b, p. 47) further underline that in all SPP relevant departments, one should find engaged persons who are convinced of the importance of sustainable development and who would even assess this concept as a guiding principle of municipal action.
“Affective commitment”, as described above, is hence a crucial trigger for the support of administrative decision-makers. Beyond that, two additional triggers were identified:
• Council Resolution (Baringer/Munich);
• information on SRPP for decision-makers, for instance via workshops and more ad hoc forms of knowledge sharing; of which there is in practice often a lack (Baringer/Munich; Feldmann/Cologne).
6.2.2 Support from procurement officers
The last and determining administrative level for successful SRPP consolidation is the working level of procurement officers. Here, “procurement officers” refers to those municipal employees who procure goods and services only occasionally. Research from the Netherlands “shows that the sustainable procurement behaviour of the procurers directly and significantly increases the implementation of sustainable procurement in procurement projects” (Grandia, 2015, p. 147). In this paper, subsections 4.1.1, 5.1.3, 5.1.4 and 5.2.3 underline the importance of procurement officers who consider sustainability criteria for the German case as well. The high degree of variation concerning a SRPP-supporting behaviour among procurers observed in the Netherlands coincides again with observations from Germany. The following triggers were shown to increase the SRPP behaviour of procurement officers.
Upgrading individual responsibility of procurers
With regard to procurers – and thus only to municipal employees whose main task is procurement – upgrading their individual responsibility in everyday work can positively affect their stance on SPP. This assessment is underlined in the sections on the maturity level of procurement (5.2.1) and the one on perceived justice when adapting administrative processes to respect SPP (5.1.6). In this regard, acknowledging procurement as an instrument to reach strategic policy goals and involving procurement staff in change processes can have positive effects. Jeannette Jäger, consultant for the City of Ludwigsburg on SPP, also referred to the important role of upgrading the individual responsibility of procurers. They would need a certain degree of freedom to define workable criteria for tenders (Jäger/Ludwigsburg). The implementation of strategic buyers in certain product groups in the City State of Bremen (Detjen/Bremen) constitutes a further example from practice.
SRPP fits with strategic vision of the municipality
A second trigger for a positive outlook on SPP by procurement officers is a perceived fit of procurement goals with the overall strategic vision of the municipality (Brammer & Walker, 2011, p. 467; Grandia, 2015, p. 127). Practitioners highlighted the supporting function of municipal meta-goals on sustainability for SPP action by procurement officers (Jäger/Ludwigsburg; Malter/Nuremberg Metropolitan Region).
Exchange and information
Grandia (2015, p. 106) found that a further trigger for SPP-benefitting behaviour of procurers besides affective commitment was “their ability (knowledge) to show sustainable procurement behaviour”. Our interviewees broadly confirmed the crucial role of information and exchange as preconditions for building up knowledge for the situation in Germany. Thus, they highlighted the importance of providing information on SRPP, including the effects of applying social criteria in value chains, for both full-time procurers and for municipal employees who only procure occasionally (Bersin&Rode/Saarbrücken;
Detjen/Bremen; Gresch/Mainz; Jäger/Ludwigsburg).